There are various types of peripheral devices (such as hard disk drives (HDDs), compact discs recordable (CD-Rs), compact discs rewritable (CD-RWs), digital versatile discs recordable (DVD-Rs), and digital versatile discs rewritable (DVD-RWs)) that are to be connected to computer systems using interfaces (including an integrated drive electronics (IDE) interface, a small computer system interface (SCSI), a universal serial bus (USB), an IEEE1394 interface, and so forth) as external devices.
Among such peripheral devices, there is a peripheral device that is required to have a function of controlling data communication only between the peripheral device and a specific computer system.
In order not to read confidential information or copyright data that is stored in such a peripheral device by using a different computer system, the peripheral device supports the function by performing a mutual authentication process between a specific computer system and the peripheral device. In this case, only when the authentication process is completed, data access between the computer system and the peripheral device can be performed.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-186819 concerns a computer system including a USB device that has a security function. An authentication process is performed between the computer system and the USB device, and, only when the authentication process is completed, the USB device can be used. This avoids unauthorized use of the USB device in a case in which a malicious person connects the USB device to a different computer.
Additionally, in contrast, an encryption device that encrypts data which is to be stored in a peripheral device such as an HDD is known.
Patent Citation 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-186819